Questions with Mike Palmer

Mike Palmer Answers Your Questions

Mike Palmer keeps bees at French Hill Apiaries in St. Albans. We are grateful that he has agreed to answer questions on beekeeping in Vermont, his workload permitting.

VBA Members: Ask Mike your question with this form. (Requires you to login to the site.) We'll post the best questions and answers here as regularly as possible. (Personal responses to questions will not be possible.)

Hi. I purchased bees on May 20th, a nuc, this sat. We really had strong wind and heavy rains from the south. My beehive is facing south. Yesterday I noticed a lot of bees, the end result was at least 5 cups of [dead] bees. I checked the bees that night because I didn't have time to open them up that a.m. and the bees seemed very sluggish. Bees were dead on the bottom of the hive and at the bottom opening. When my bee friend came this afternoon, he said they were mostly worker bees that were dead. He opened the hive and they still seemed really slow, but did wake up. We noticed that were 4 deeps that were full of brood and even noticed some little babies. I see some bees outside my hive today, but no activity yesterday. Any thoughts, suggestions, etc. Thanks for any help in advance. Thanks!

Sounds as if they are starving, or have starved. Have you checked to see if they have any food in the larder?